Hall of Fame
The 1988-89 University of Southern Maine men’s basketball team was one of the most successful teams in the early years of the Little East Conference, posting an overall record of 24-7 on its way to becoming the first-ever LEC men’s basketball team to advance to the NCAA Division III Final Four. The Huskies 24 wins and 31 games played remain program records to this day.
Southern Maine won its first LEC regular season title before capturing the program’s first, and to-date only LEC tournament title that season. The Huskies had an opening round bye as the LEC tournament’s No. 1 seed, and advanced to the LEC title game for the third consecutive season with a 90-77 win over Rhode Island College. USM then routed Plymouth State to take home the championship and secure the LEC’s automatic berth in the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament, 84-66.
USM opened the 1989 NCAA tournament with three consecutive wins to advance to the Final Four, defeating North Adams State (88-80), Western Connecticut (90-88) and Franklin & Marshall (79-71). The Huskies’ season-best eight-game winning streak ended with an 84-62 loss to Trenton State in the national semifinals before they rebounded to defeat Centre in the Third-Place game, 81-70.
USM was led by forward Jeff Bowers, who was named the 1988-89 LEC Player of the Year on his way to being named First Team All-District by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) after averaging 20.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. He was later named to the LEC Men’s Basketball 25th Anniversary Team, alongside forward Tim Bonsant, who was second to Bowers in scoring (13.8 ppg) and led the team in rebounding (8.0 rpg) that season. Bowers was one of five player named to the 1989 NCAA Division III All-Tournament Team.
The 1988-89 Southern Maine men’s basketball team was inducted into the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023.